The
fact that the international community continues to dedicate
an international day to highlight the persistence of slavery
and the imperative to abolish this pervasive practice is
a reflection of the inhumanity of the world in which we
live. Millions of men, women and children around the world
are condemned to servitude whether through forced labour,
bonded labour, domestic labour, sexual exploitation, human
trafficking or other forms of slavery.

The
Charter of the United Nations reaffirms faith in the dignity
and worth of the human person. Fifty-five years ago, the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirmed that "no
one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the
slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms".
Over the years, the international community has adopted
treaties and conventions against slavery and trafficking
in human persons. Yet this ancient and heinous practice
still persists.

Slavery
is an affront to human dignity, a denial of the most basic
of human rights. We therefore need to ask ourselves why
this abhorrent and abusive practice continues in the twenty-first
century. How is it that at a time of astounding progress
in science, technology and advanced global communication;
at a time of increased awareness of, and insistence on,
the importance of respect for human rights, some 27 million
persons are enslaved or work as forced labourers. How can
it be that one human being can be deemed to be less worthy
than the other and therefore condemned to a life of inhuman
and unjust treatment?

We must
not only ask ourselves these questions. We must encourage
those countries that have not done so to ratify, and all
countries to implement the International Conventions on
slavery, trafficking in human persons and all forms of human
exploitation. Importantly, we must work steadfastly to eradicate
slavery worldwide.